You’ve overcome the hard part - you have got to the gym.
But with the plethora of machinery and classes - from treadmills to weights to pilates and yoga - deciding what to focus on can be overwhelming, especially when you are not feeling motivated.
The music you listen to can be the difference between feeling like a professional athlete in training and struggling through your routine. But finding the perfect workout song, let alone a playlist, can be trickier than you would expect.
“Music plays a key role in fitness,” Richard Lee, a Virgin Active music producer said. “It is the heart and soul of any workout and without it the class will lack motivation and is often reduced to nothing more than a few exercises performed with a lack of effort or desire.
“Motivational tracks inspire you to push yourself further and work harder to achieve your goals. But if the music choices are wrong, then equally the workout can fail.
“As a music producer for the fitness industry it is my job to select the right music for my clients and their projects and by working together we can achieve the perfect music solution.”
Jazzercise, an online community of instructors, franchise owners and fitness fanatics, says a "great workout song” must have motivational factors, optimal beats and inspiring lyrics.
Lee agreed: “Mind Body and yoga classes are often made up of slower, more controlled exercises and the music needs to complement this. Some instructors favour a traditional music solution that uses ambient tunes, often instrumentals, ranging from classical to more contemporary tracks, while others prefer to push to the boundaries and use tracks from more modern artists or new music genres.”
High-intensity workouts required more upbeat music.
“The BPM (beat per minute) range is much higher, which makes dance music a huge favourite, especially classic trance anthems, as the tracks were often without vocals or very few vocals and focused more on uplifting beats and riffs to carry the song through making them perfect for these type of classes,” Lee said.
In the same way a DJ can motivate people on a dance floor, so a fitness instructor can motivate a fitness class, he said.
“It’s the same principal for both play the wrong song at the wrong time and the audience stops dancing, play the wrong song during a workout and the energy in the class is lost. By the time you have found a track that works, it is often too late.
“Whatever the fitness workout, it is the music that matters.”